Perfect PC backtesting rig?

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Attemtping the fastest tick by tick MT4/MT5 backtest possible; what are your recommendations? Thought about building a gaming PC without the graphics card; is this approach OK? 
 

  1. Why did you post your MT4 question in the MT5 General section instead of the MQL4 section, (bottom of the Root page?)
              General rules and best pratices of the Forum. - General - MQL5 programming forum?
    Next time post in the correct place. The moderators will likely move this thread there soon.

  2. Any machine can backtest. The only real work it's doing is displaying the chart and what ever your EA needs.
  3. If you meant optimization, MT4 only runs one thread. Any machine will do.

    1. EAs : Don't do per tick that you can do per bar, or on open.
      If you are waiting for a level, don't reevaluate, wait until price reaches it (or a new bar starts and you recalculate.)
      If you are waiting for an order to open or close, only look when OrdersTotal (or MT5 equivalent) has changed.
                How to get backtesting faster ? - MT4 - MQL4 programming forum 2017.08.07

    2. Indicators: Code it properly so it only recomputes bar zero (after the initial run.)
                How to do your lookbacks correctly. 2016.05.11

    3. Or, reduce Tools → Options (control+O) → Charts → Max bars in chart to something reasonable (like 1K.)

 

Thanks for the tips. Lookback link apprecaiated,

1. Are MT4/MT5 back tests just like a video game just that MT4/MT5 does not require graphics in terms of optimal PC backtest? 500 USD Budget so was thinking of a 500 gaming rig minus graphics card is this OK? 

2. Specs: "Any machine will do"? How can that be that hardware does not make a difference? Low specs required? Hardware doesn't help much after a certain point? What point is this? Was thinking about a very latest Single core Motherboard (emphasis on MT4, MT5 optional), very latest processor (necessary?) and 64 latest ram ssd?

3. I want to laglessly trade as many charts as possible throught a single EA at every instrument. Modern motherboard and 64 ram w a decent processor thats it? Never built a MT4/MT5 Backtesting PC before

Testing trading strategies on real ticks
Testing trading strategies on real ticks
  • www.mql5.com
The article provides the results of testing a simple trading strategy in three modes: " 1 minute OHLC " using only Open, High, Low and Close prices of minute bars; detailed modeling in " Every tick " mode, as well as the most accurate " Every tick based on real ticks " mode applying actual historical data. Comparing the results allows us to...
 
nadiawicket: 3. I want to laglessly trade as many charts as possible

  1. Your original question was about backtesting.

    Don't double post! You already had this thread open.
              General rules and best pratices of the Forum. - General - MQL5 programming forum 2017.07.19

  2. No such thing as "laglessly." You are using a network, not a co-located server.

  3. I am currently running 56 charts with 8 indicators+EA on my laptop. The terminal working set is 200 MB RAM, 8% cpu (of 4 cores).
              MT4 running super slow. - MQL4 programming forum #3 20.03.23

    It does take several minutes to start up and shutdown (make sure the executable has exited, not just the window has closed, before stopping/rebooting Windows.)

    4. Any machine will do.

 
William Roeder:

  1. Your original question was about backtesting.

    Don't double post! You already had this thread open.
              General rules and best pratices of the Forum. - General - MQL5 programming forum 2017.07.19

  2. No such thing as "laglessly." You are using a network, not a co-located server.

  3. I am currently running 56 charts with 8 indicators+EA on my laptop. The terminal working set is 200 MB RAM, 8% cpu (of 4 cores).
              MT4 running super slow. - MQL4 programming forum #3 20.03.23

    It does take several minutes to start up and shutdown (make sure the executable has exited, not just the window has closed, before stopping/rebooting Windows.)

    4. Any machine will do.

i7 overkill processor?

 

Compare the costs of your rig to the costs of using the agents and than calculate the break even time.

https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/271518#comment_8344866 //  cost of agents
https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/6677#comment_193100       //  costs of agents

Remote Agents problem "authorization on still connected agent"
Remote Agents problem "authorization on still connected agent"
  • 2018.08.09
  • www.mql5.com
Hello Guys I have a problem to connect to my remote agent (my other laptop) in the journal I get the message: KJ 0 10:49:13.948 Agent_192.168...
 
Carl Schreiber:

https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/271518#comment_8344866 //  cost of agents
https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/6677#comment_193100       //  costs of agents

Please use the link button Use the link button (Control+K) See the difference?
          Messages Editor
 
Carl Schreiber:

Compare the costs of your rig to the costs of using the agents and than calculate the break even time.

https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/271518#comment_8344866 //  cost of agents
https://www.mql5.com/en/forum/6677#comment_193100       //  costs of agents

never heard of this before thx for posting

 

@nadiawicket      Gaming card also helps boost the processor, and are kind of cheapest way to do so.

Ever heard of gaming pc's being used for bitcoin mining just because their free gpu are better at performing calculations than traditional comparable processors.

I can't go into much detail explaining how cores work but thats how it works. 

I am not asking you to get a cheap processor and bulky graphics card, but am just saying that an i7 with bulky GPU will be a lot better than i9 with decent GPU.

Increasing too much GPU power will still not help as it will be overloading ur pc.

so just get a decent processor and bulk it up with graphics power and u'll get an awesome backtesting machine.

 
Saurabh Suman:

@nadiawicket      Gaming card also helps boost the processor, and are kind of cheapest way to do so.

Ever heard of gaming pc's being used for bitcoin mining just because their free gpu are better at performing calculations than traditional comparable processors.

I can't go into much detail explaining how cores work but thats how it works. 

I am not asking you to get a cheap processor and bulky graphics card, but am just saying that an i7 with bulky GPU will be a lot better than i9 with decent GPU.

Increasing too much GPU power will still not help as it will be overloading ur pc.

so just get a decent processor and bulk it up with graphics power and u'll get an awesome backtesting machine.

You can confirm that:

A SSD 32 ram Motherboard with a used i7 with the best possible graphics card will actually perform faster TICK BY TICK MT4 tests

than

the same exact SSD 32 ram Motherboard with a used i7 with *OUT* best possible graphics card?

So just research best graphics card for i7?
 
nadiawicket:

You can confirm that:

A SSD 32 ram Motherboard with a used i7 with the best possible graphics card will actually perform faster TICK BY TICK MT4 tests

than

the same exact SSD 32 ram Motherboard with a used i7 with *OUT* best possible graphics card?

So just research best graphics card for i7?

Yeah...with graphics card it is surely better by a lot of margin.

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